Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Yuniesky Posada
I've been lobbying for several seasons now to get him into our HoF in Mordecai.
He is the all-time career leader in Stolen Bases in all of HBD, across all worlds.
For those too lazy to look him up... he has 1674 career SBs, and was only caught 53 times.
The rest of his offensive stats are modest at best.
Do you vote him in based solely on his ability to steal bases?

He was a great lead off guy at over .370 OBP too. Nice player, but not o HOFer. Maybe if he wasn't a LFer but played a def position (SS, 2B, CF) and was a borderline gold glover there, he'd have a better argument. But a .700 OPS guy at a corner spot isn't a HOF player.

Posted by MikeT23 on 3/24/2013 5:07:00 PM (view original):Couldn't one argue that he added 1600+ bases to his total bases? Thus putting his SLG in the .550 range?

He added about 1550 "adjusted" total bases (SB- 2*CS). They're not exactly as good as "real" total bases-- a single + SB doesn't advance a runner as far as a double-- but we can treat them as such for the moment. That would, in fact, make his base acquisition-adjusted SLG about 550.

I still wouldn't vote for him, because .370/.550 (a) overstates his offensive value for the above reasons, and (b) isn't that special for an average defensive RF over a realtively short career. But I can see the argument, and I wouldn't ridicule anyone who voted for him.

I would argue that he is just as valuable, if not moreso, because the mere threat of him stealing forces the infielder to play close to the base to keep the runner from cheating, which in turn opens up more holes in the defense, helping out the hitters behind him.

How are total bases calculated? I've always thought it was start at home and, if you get a single, you get one total base. A double is two, etc, etc.

How is a leadoff single and a SB different than a double?

I outlined that difference above-- they don't lead to the same number of runs, because they don't advance other runners in the same way.

But the core of your argument is right. If you analyze historical data to evaluate what kinds of offensive events lead to how many runs, a single and a SB have generated almost exactly 90% as many runs as a double (Analysts-- I'm using Linear Weights here). If you drop 2 SB for each CS, and multiply the remaining "extra" SB by 0.9, that would still leave this guy with about 1400 bases lying around, for an "adjusted" OPS of about .370/.525.

This guy will create runs at a rate much, much closer to a typical guy with a 900 OPS than one with his actual 700 OPS. He's a legit Hall of Fame nominee, if not necessarily a Hall of Famer.

How are total bases calculated? I've always thought it was start at home and, if you get a single, you get one total base. A double is two, etc, etc.

How is a leadoff single and a SB different than a double?

I outlined that difference above-- they don't lead to the same number of runs, because they don't advance other runners in the same way.

But the core of your argument is right. If you analyze historical data to evaluate what kinds of offensive events lead to how many runs, a single and a SB have generated almost exactly 90% as many runs as a double (Analysts-- I'm using Linear Weights here). If you drop 2 SB for each CS, and multiply the remaining "extra" SB by 0.9, that would still leave this guy with about 1400 bases lying around, for an "adjusted" OPS of about .370/.525.

This guy will create runs at a rate much, much closer to a typical guy with a 900 OPS than one with his actual 700 OPS. He's a legit Hall of Fame nominee, if not necessarily a Hall of Famer.